UP government evicts riot victims following Mulayam's description of refugee camp residents as 'conspirators'

Eager to remove refugee families from the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar before the campaign for general elections picks up momentum, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has apparently decided to use force and drag them away.

The local administration has already removed 35 families from the Loee camp in the last two days and is planning to evict more in the coming days.

Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told newspersons that the intezamia (management) committees of the relief camps have been taken into confidence while evicting refugees who have received compensation.

The UP government
claims to have paid Rs 5 lakh to
167 of the nearly 450
families at
Loee

The ruling Samajwadi Party is apprehensive about the fallout of the August-September communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts, which claimed over 60 lives and displaced thousands of families.

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Nearly 2,000 families are still staying in the 17 relief camps of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.

"We have evicted some of the families who had been given their compensation. The remaining will also be removed from the camps in the next few days," said additional district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar Indra Mani Tripathi about the Loee camp, which houses 450 families.

'There are no riot victims at
all in the camps. Not even
one. People (living there) are
conspirators.The BJP and
Congress have asked people
to stay there at night and sit
on dharnas.This is a conspiracy
of the people there,' said Mulayam Singh Yadav

Officials claim that 167 families from the camp have got Rs 5 lakh in compensation for resettlement.

Some of the evicted families, they say, have returned to their villages.

Muneesh Chandra Sharma, SDM of Muzaffarnagar's Budhana - under which Loee village falls - said, "We don't have any arrangements for those who have been evicted. Some of the refugees have bought land from the compensation money. The intezamia committee has also sold them its own land. They will raise huts on that land and live there till they build their houses."

However, several families have alleged that only those people who either had a ration card or bribed village chiefs got the compensation.

Yaqub Shaikh of Fugana, who is living in the Loee camp, said, "The problem is that only one micro-family of a joint family has got compensation. There are also instances where the younger brother influenced the village chief and got his name listed for compensation. But the other brothers, who had their own families, got no relief from the government."

Another refugee, Yasin Shaikh, said, "The officers are dragging us away. I don't know where I should go. The affluent villagers in Fugana have captured our houses and declared that we would be killed if we return."

"It is unfortunate that at a time when we are living here in extreme cold weather, the government officers ask us to show them our ration cards before giving us milk powder for children. They should know that we didn't think about carrying our ration cards and clothes before running away to save our lives," he lamented.

Refugees
at Loee camp huddle together on a
cold winter day. Residents here face
an uncertain future as the UP
government carries out the eviction

The state government wanted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to recommend eviction of the refugees from the camp.

The district administration had requested the same to the members of human rights' panel on December 21, but it turned down the demand.

When contacted, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, "The government has already given all possible assistance to the victims. If needed, we will provide them more. But they should return home or wherever they have made arrangements for themselves, and start leading a normal life."

Leaders lose faith in SP

By Mail Today Reporter

The SP-led UP government's inept handling of relief efforts has sparked a rebellion within its quarters.

Maulana Tauqir Raza - who enjoys the rank of a minister of state and serves as an adviser to the UP Handloom Corporation - on Thursday called for an inquiry into why Mulayam had not visited Muzaffarnagar since or during the riots.

He said he had tendered a "conditional resignation" on December 5 to press for the problems of riot victims to be redressed, but was yet to get a reply from the government.

"I am pained by the way the SP government is playing politics on the issue. I give the Akhilesh government time till January 5 to address the problems faced by displaced people, or I will break ranks with the SP," he said.

Reacting to Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement that refugee camp residents were agents of the Congress and the BJP, Raza said: "By terming them (riot victims) agents of the Congress and BJP, the SP has showed its dirty mindset."

"His statement is against humanity," added Raza, the president of Ittehad-e-Millat Council, a political organisation allied with the SP. He claimed that Muslims of the state have lost faith in Akhilesh's government.

"Thousands of people have become refugees in their own districts. They are dying like insects," he added.

The Darul Uloom, Deoband, on the other hand, has branded Mulayam a friend of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

"The SP president is frustrated because of the failure of his party's government. It has failed to provide safety to the Muslims and is working on the direction of the RSS," said Arif Qasmi, a mufti of Darul Uloom Waqf.

Maulana Abdul Qasim Nomani, head of Darul Uloom, added, "SP leaders are exacerbating the problems of victims with their irresponsible behaviour and statements. Mulayam should know what it's like sleeping in the open in winter."

'NOW THE GOVERNMENT IS BEHAVING LIKE OUR ENEMY'

By Piyush Srivastava

The predicament of Mohammad Rukmuddin, one of the thousands of people living at the Loee relief camp, all but punctures the state government's tall claims about its rehabilitation efforts.

Rukmuddin and his brood of 21 live in a small tent and are yet to receive any monetary compensation.

Not to forget the fact that the camp itself - with open sewers surrounding the tents and devoid of clean water and medical facilities – is nothing short of a cruel joke on the 450-odd families that stay there.

"We are three brothers, each with his own family - four women, four men and 13 children. We ran away from our village, Fugana, when the rioters started burning our houses," Rukmuddin said.

He added: "We used to think that a government exists in the state, and that it will soon come to our rescue. But we were wrong. Now the government is behaving like our enemy."

The arrival of winter has made matters worse for the family, which has been living at Loee since September 8.

"Life is difficult here because of winter," said Rukmuddin's younger brother Mohammad Idris. "It rains every now and then and the tent leaks. The humidity makes the cold worse."

Anwar Haji, a businessman who arrived at the camp of his own accord to provide relief material to the victims, described to Mail Today the poor quality of supplies distributed by the government.

"The food-grain is rotten, and the blankets provided are very thin," he said. "We think the government should take the problem seriously," Haji added.

These assertions fly in the face of claims consistently made by the UP government about having done a lot to help the people displaced by riots.

In fact, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav - despite the flood of reports about his government's inadequate relief efforts - refuses to admit any shortcomings, and says he is serious about helping out the riot victims.

"Officers have been instructed to protect people from winter. The government is also trying to send them home," he said.

Akhilesh also said financial assistance has been given to dependents of people who had died and other affected families.

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UP government evicts riot victims following Mulayam's description of refugee camp inhabitants as 'conspirators'